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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

CAMP FIRE » VISIT TO BURN ZONE

Trump gets up-close

view of devastation
Ezekial Flatten

Lawsuit
filed in
2017 RP
pot case
Man says civil rights
violated when officers
seized marijuana
By JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Texas man who said he was

pulled over on Highway 101 by
unidentified officers who took
his marijuana during a 2017
traffic stop near the Mendocino-
Sonoma county line has filed
a federal civil rights lawsuit
against the city of Rohnert
Park, claiming one of its officers
abused his authority by com-
mitting theft, along with other
crimes.
The plaintiff, Ezekial Flatten,
a former school district police
officer from San Antonio, has
accused Rohnert Park Officer
Joseph Huffaker and the Hop-
land Band of Pomo Indians’
then-police chief Steven Hobb
of pulling him over and detain-
EVAN VUCCI / ASSOCIATED PRESS ing him without legal justifica-
GOVERNORS JOIN TRUMP: On a tour of the Camp fire zone in Paradise, President Donald Trump talks with Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, left, as Gov. Jerry Brown listens. tion on Dec. 5, 2017.
The visit came nearly a week after Trump infuriated state leaders and firefighters by blaming them for the damage, saying the state had let its forests become overgrown. “What they were doing on
the side of the road when they
robbed me, it was illegal,” said
In Paradise, president Flatten, who made his allega-
tions public earlier this year,
pushes plan to thin first in complaints to Mendoci-
no County authorities and then
forests; death toll at 76 in accounts shared with several
media outlets.
By ALEXEI KOSEFF AND DALE KASLER He contends he acquired the
SACRAMENTO BEE
cannabis lawfully, with a medi-
cal marijuana recommendation,

P
PARADISE from a Humboldt County farmer.
resident Donald Trump toured the damage Flatten, who goes by Zeke,
wrought by California’s deadliest wildfire spurred other Highway 101 mo-
Saturday, visiting the ruins of a mobile torists to step forward with al-
home park and pressing his argument that the legations of being wronged by
state’s forests must be managed more aggressive- Rohnert Park police when he be-
ly to prevent future disasters. gan speaking out about his case.
With the death toll from the Camp fire rising, His lawsuit names Huffaker
Trump met with Paradise Mayor Jody Jones and and Hobb as the officers who
toured the charred wreckage of took the 3 pounds of marijuana
INSIDE the Skyway Villa Mobile Home from his SUV. They did so in an
Many of Malibu’s and RV Park. They passed a de- illegal search without properly
rehab centers stroyed home where someone identifying themselves or docu-
destroyed in had hung an American flag and KENT NISHIMURA / LOS ANGELES TIMES menting the stop, according to
Woolsey fire / A7 picked their way past a downed FIRE DESTRUCTION: The Cypress Meadows Post-Acute skilled nursing facility in Paradise lies in ruins. the 11-page complaint filed Fri-
streetlamp and other debris. day in U.S. District Court in San

As flames closed in, nursing

Bits of ash floated in the air, although neither Francisco.
the president nor anyone in his entourage wore “It wasn’t just sloppy police
masks. Trump later was briefed on details of the work,” Flatten said in an inter-

home staff leaped into action

fire by Cal Fire officials at the agency’s incident view Friday. “They had no patch-
command post in nearby Chico. es, no nametags, no badges.”
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Trump Huffaker, who remains a city
said. “It looks like total devastation.” employee, could not be reached
Later in the day, Butte County Sheriff Kory Ho- By MARIA L. LA GANGA fined to hospital beds, suffering from for comment Friday afternoon.
nea announced that five more bodies were found LOS ANGELES TIMES dementia, recovering from strokes? Hobb, who now works for the

H
Saturday, bringing the total number of dead to 76.
He also released the name of a sixth victim who ow do you evacuate a nurs-
had been identified: Lolene Rios, 56, of Paradise. ing home when the deadliest
Another 1,276 people remain missing, although wildfire in California history is
that list likely includes duplications and errors. bearing down and there are 91 men and
women to move to safety — patients in
TURN TO DEVASTATION » PAGE A12 need of walkers or wheelchairs or con-
The fire is coming fast. Help is not. Clearlake Police Department,
Staying at the Cypress Meadows said he did not know about the
Post-Acute center in Paradise is not an lawsuit and denied any involve-
option. Sheltering in place means cer- ment in Flatten’s stop.
tain death for the 30 or so staff members “I’m not going to comment
on that because you guys don’t
TURN TO ACTION » PAGE A13
TURN TO LAWSUIT » PAGE A11

County home sales rebound

as prices slide to 2018 low
By ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County home sales
rebounded in October, boosted
by a spate of price reductions
that pushed the median price to
its lowest level of the year.
The median price of $649,500
has fallen from its June peak of
$700,000 and now is nearly un-
changed from a year ago. The
price decline in October from
a year ago is rare for a housing
market that has steadily gotten
more expensive for more than
six years.
Meanwhile, the sales of
420  single-family homes last
month represented a 27 percent
advance from a dismal Septem-
ber and the highest level in three
years for October, according to
The Press Democrat’s monthly
housing report compiled by Pa-
cific Union International senior
vice president Rick Laws.
Last month’s price reductions
show homebuyers have gained
negotiating power after years of
sellers holding the advantage,
regularly enjoying multiple of-
fers and getting higher prices
for their properties.
“Buyers have leverage out
there for the first time in three
years,” said Adam Menconi, ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Realtor Jeff Hill of Bertolone Realty pauses Tuesday in front of a home
TURN TO HOMES » PAGE A2 he is selling, which is about to go into escrow in Santa Rosa.

Business E1 Forum B9 Movies D6 Smith A3 REMEMBERING JONESTOWN: Survivors who SANTA ROSA ©2018
Classified E5 Golis B1 Nevius C1 Sonoma Life D1 have built new lives and struggled with grief High 66, Low 34 The Press
Democrat
Crossword T7 Lotto A2 Obituaries B4 Towns T1 reflect on their time at the Peoples Temple / B1 THE WEATHER, C8
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2018
LAWSUIT
CONTINUED FROM A1
tell the truth,” Hobb said.
“I had nothing to do with
that. It’s malicious, and I
was not involved.”
Suit latest in series
The lawsuit is the latest
in a series of civil rights cas-
es brought against Rohnert
Park’s police force. It also
names the Hopland tribe
and former Rohnert Park
Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum,
who resigned in June under
a cloud of allegations about
his on-duty behavior.
Huffaker and Tatum,
who often worked together,
were taken off duty in April
and placed on administra-
tive leave when the city
began its ongoing internal
investigation into the role
Flatten alleges they had in
his traffic stop.
The internal probe was
expanded in late July, one
week after the sudden res-
ignation of Rohnert Park’s
longtime director of public
safety, Brian Masterson,
and three weeks after The
Press Democrat began
publishing a series of sto-
ries examining the city’s
aggressive program to
confiscate drugs and mon-
ey by pulling over drivers
on Highway 101, the main
thoroughfare between the
famed Emerald Triangle
marijuana growing region
and the urban Bay Area.
Many of the traffic stops
occurred near the Sonoma-
Mendocino border, 40 miles
north of Rohnert Park.
After Masterson’s an-
nouncement, the city hired
former Oakland Police
Chief Howard Jordan, now
an independent police au-
ditor, to conduct a broad
look into the drug-and-cash
interception operations.
Since 2014, those mis-
sions have netted the city
more than $2.4 million in
cash and seized assets —
more than any other law
enforcement agency in
Sonoma County.
Tatum played a lead role
in the seizures and was dec-
orated by the city for his
actions. But Flatten, in his
RETIREMENT SALE
Motorists on Highway 101 drive past Frog Woman Rock near Hopland on June 28. Ezekial
Flatten said he was pulled over on Highway 101 by unidentified officers who took his
marijuana during a 2017 traffic stop near the Mendocino-Sonoma county line.
lawsuit, accused the for-
mer sergeant and Huffaker
of conspiring “to expand
the legitimate interdiction
mission to one of personal
financial gain.”
Air of mystery
They seized “thousands
of pounds of marijuana
and hundreds of thou-
sands of currency without
issuing receipts for the
seizures, without making
arrests for any crimes, and
without any official report
of the forfeitures being
made,” the suit alleged.
Flatten’s attorney, Izaak
Schwaiger, said they intend
to prove those far-reaching
allegations in trial.
Tatum and his attorney
did not respond to messag-
es seeking comment Friday.
No law enforcement
agency has publicly come
forward to report its offi-
cers pulled Flatten over,
lending the case an air of
mystery. Flatten’s seized
marijuana was never pub-
licly reported as booked
evidence by Rohnert Park
or any other law enforce-
ment agency that normally
patrols the area.
Flatten said one of the
two men who stopped
him said they were with
the ATF. An official with
the Bureau of Alcohol,
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Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives told The Press
Democrat earlier this year
that no ATF officer was in-
volved in a traffic stop with
Flatten.
Flatten first lodged his
allegations with the Men-
docino County Sheriff’s
and District Attorney offic-
es soon after the December
stop in an attempt to deter-
mine who pulled him over.
About two months later,
his name appeared on an
internal police report writ-
ten by Tatum, prompting
questions about whether it
was Rohnert Park officers
who made the stop.
Tatum wasn’t present
during the traffic stop,
Flatten contends, but be-
came involved later by
trying to cover it up — add-
ing Flatten’s name onto a
police report about a dif-
ferent traffic stop near the
Mendocino County line,
according to Flatten.
In an interview earlier
this year, Tatum said he
had mistakenly included
Flatten’s name on the re-
port.
Rohnert Park Assis-
tant City Manager Don
Schwartz said Friday he
was aware of Flatten’s
lawsuit, but he and others
within city government
had not yet read it and
ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
were unable to comment
on the allegations.
Changes to procedures
Schwartz said the city
responded swiftly to Flat-
ten’s original complaints
that Rohnert Park officers
were involved in his stop.
The public safety depart-
ment has made changes to
its procedures for report
writing and evidence, he
said, following the recom-
mendations of Jordan, the
outside auditor.
“We said we will take
them (the complaints) se-
riously, and the fact that
we’ve implemented anoth-
er third party’s recommen-
dations is another exam-
ple of us taking concerns
seriously and making im-
provements where we have
the opportunity to do so,”
Schwartz said.
Schwartz declined to say
whether Huffaker was still
on leave or has returned to
duty.
Tatum, in an interview
about his resignation this
summer, said the investi-
gation was stressful and he
decided to leave the law en-
forcement profession.
Schwaiger, Flatten’s
lawyer, said they intend
to prove in the case that a
group of officers were con-
ducting traffic stops with-
out sufficient cause in or-
der to confiscate drugs and
cash. The officers involved
did not turn over all of the
contraband to their depart-
ments, Schwaiger said.
“We have a group of
rogue officers who have
been a scourge on this
county, and apparently oth-
er counties, in a way that’s
only now coming to light,”
Schwaiger said. “This law-
suit is designed to cast more
light on shadowy behaviors
on the people we’re sup-
posed to trust with our safe-
ty and our civil rights.”
The Dec. 5 traffic stop last-
ed about five minutes. It oc-
curred on a remote stretch
of southbound Highway 101
near Frog Woman Rock be-
tween Hopland and Clover-
dale as the roadway follows
the Russian River.
The officers wore no
department insignia and
their dark SUV had no
logo, Flatten said. They
searched his vehicle and
opened a sealed box taken
from the back of Flatten’s
rented SUV that contained
about 3 pounds of cured
marijuana, the complaint
said. One of the officers
stated that “cannabis was
taking over in California,
and advised him that he
may be getting a letter
from Washington,” accord-
ing to the complaint.
Harassment alleged
The officers left, taking
the marijuana and without
giving Flatten a citation.
Flatten said he quick-
ly identified the primary
officer he spoke with on
the roadside minutes after
the traffic stop when he
stopped in Cloverdale and
found a picture of Hobb on
the Hopland tribe’s web-
site. He said he identified
Huffaker as the second of-
ficer through a cellphone
video sent to him by an-
other motorist who was
stopped by Rohnert Park
police on Highway 101.
An ex-police officer him-
self who worked about four
years for a San Antonio-
area school district, Flat-
ten said concern about the
traffic stop led him eventu-
ally to report the encoun-
ter to the FBI.
A11
Flatten claims the of-
ficers have additionally
violated his right to free
speech by retaliating
against him for speaking
out about his concerns,
making him the “subject
of surveillance, harass-
ment, threats and intim-
idation designed to chill
his speech,” the complaint
states. A mechanic in Sep-
tember found a GPS track-
ing device installed under
the dashboard of Flatten’s
vehicle and he received an
anonymous message on
social media stating he was
“playing with fire,” he said.
Other civil rights cases
Rohnert Park’s officers
have been the subject of
multiple lawsuits alleging
civil rights violations.
Last month, a feder-
al jury found Tatum and
other officers had carried
out an unlawful search of
a Rohnert Park family’s
home. Tatum entered the
home through a back door
with his gun drawn. The
jury awarded the family
$145,000 in damages — a
sum that includes addi-
tional damages for Tatum’s
actions during the 2014
search, plus attorneys fees.
Another ongoing federal
civil rights case was filed
by the parents of a man
who died in May 2017 after
being restrained and shot
with a Taser during an en-
counter with Rohnert Park
police.
Interim Public Safety Di-
rector Jeff Weaver, who was
brought on in August after
the abrupt retirement of
Masterson, said he has not
seen the lawsuit and was in
no position to comment on it
Friday. Weaver said he has
high confidence in the quali-
ty of the work being done by
department officers.
“As someone who came
from the outside, I’m very
pleased with the hard work
and the capability and pro-
fessionalism that I’ve en-
countered there,” Weaver
said.
You can reach Staff Writer
Julie Johnson at 707-521-
5220 or julie.johnson@
pressdemocrat.com. On
Twitter @jjpressdem.